


know these paths

by meggiewrites



Category: Men's Football RPF
Genre: Coming Out, FC Bayern München, Gay Male Character, M/M, Non-Linear Narrative, Walks In The Woods
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-05
Updated: 2018-11-05
Packaged: 2019-08-19 06:45:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16529459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meggiewrites/pseuds/meggiewrites
Summary: I stroked your hair in the opposite direction to your journey. We called to each other, like calling out the names of towns where nobody stops along the route.– Yehuda AmichaiOr, Manuel and Thomas and two walks in the woods.





	know these paths

**Author's Note:**

  * For [c6h4cl2](https://archiveofourown.org/users/c6h4cl2/gifts).



> This was written for Football Prompts Monthly, in response to both the word prompt – which I used in the summary – and the photo prompt (and you could argue that there's some teasing too, though it's definitely non-sexual teasing) I really want to say thank you to the mods cause this somehow managed to pull me out of my writer's block that has given me grief for weeks. 
> 
> For E, cause you really have been something else, and you really do inspire me so much and somehow, you've managed to make me fall in love with these two even more and I'm glad I can give some of that back ♡ Unbeta'd as usual, sorry.
> 
> Songs to listen to while reading: [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXFvSE7GBbs) and [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REiqYYs2ofc)

It’s November and the leaves are crisp underneath their feet.

Thomas is holding Manuel’s hand. His fingers feel warm between his own so that he almost doesn’t regret not putting on gloves. Manu is smiling one of his half-smiles, those that make him look way too cute for someone his size, those he makes when he’s just content and completely at peace. They didn’t have the best of weeks, but Manu has always blossomed when he’s surrounded by nature, even if the day is as dreary as this one, the fog seeping through the woods and the cold a wet presence on their skin. His profile is sharp, the white of the fog highlighting his strong chin, elegant nose and brows. Thomas can hardly stop looking at him.

A few steps in front of them, Momo bustles through the shedded foliage of the trees surrounding them, occasionally barking at a bush, a tree stump or at turning around and yapping at them. For such a tiny thing, she’s pretty energetic.

It’s peaceful around here. Usually, this forest is their running area, but occasionally, they like to mix it up and just go for a lazy stroll like any other couple. A few snowflakes drizzle from the sky, covering the world in silence even when they disintegrate before hitting the ground. Momo disappears between the trees, but Thomas isn’t worried – she probably knows these woods better than either of them.

They’ve been walking for about an hour already, and Manu doesn’t resist when Thomas pulls him over to a lonely bench standing by the side of the path. It looks like any other bench in this forest, in every forest of the world, but by the way Manu suddenly stops as he lifts his head, Thomas can tell that he just got lost in his memories as well.

It takes another tug at his hand before Manu finally sits down, slowly, carefully. He’s closed his eyes, and he startles when Thomas untangles their hands only to wrap an arm around his shoulder, pulling him close until he relents and places his head on Thomas’ shoulder. His hair tickles Thomas’ neck as he lifts his hand to place it on Manu's hair, gently petting his head.

“Do you remember the last time we sat here?”

Manu exhales. Thomas can see that he’s smiling.

“Yeah. How could I forget.”

 

_Manu is running. His steps are quick, his chest is heaving. It hasn’t been the best day, and going outside always manages to clear his mind._

_Momo is running right next to him. He cracks a grin. Getting her was maybe one of the best decisions he ever made. He’d always wanted a dog as a kid, but his parents never got him one. “The apartment is too small,” they’d said, and as soon as he moved out, he realized he wouldn’t have enough time to take care of a dog, not when he lived alone, busy with training and away most weekends. He’s really glad he reversed that decision when he’d moved to Bayern._

_Momo’ tongue is hanging out of her mouth as she skips ahead while Manu’s music blares from his earphones, drowning out everything else but the scenery in front of him. Sweat drips down his neck, but he can hardly feel it. He almost stumbles when something big and brown dashes past his legs, followed by an equally fast streak of black, chasing after Momo until they charge through the copse together._

_The other dogs are more than two times Momo’s size, but it’s only when someone yells “Micky, Murmel,_ aus _!” behind his back that Manu recognizes them._

_He grins when the other jogger catches up to him, matching their pace effortlessly, removing his own earbuds, letting them dangle down on a t-shirt that clings to tanned skin._

_“Hey there! Do you come here often?” The line is served with such cheekiness that Manu can’t help but roll his eyes as something in his stomach skips. Thomas of course doesn’t pay him any attention and focuses back on the path instead, where a few steps ahead, their dogs exchange panting smiles._

_“What are you doing here?” It’s almost embarrassing how out of breath Manu is, but faced with Thomas’ faster pace – the pace of a forward – he does get tired more quickly. And they’re going uphill, of course._

_Thomas shrugs. It makes him look like an awkward, really tall bird – maybe an ostrich? – but his smile is blinding, making Manu’s stomach hop again._

_“You said this was a nice place to run. There’s some kind of village fete going on where I usually go for running, so I decided to load the dogs into the car and well, here I am.”_

_Manu hums. He manages two more of his usual rounds that take them approximately fifteen minutes until he collapses on one of the benches at the side of the gravel path. It’s a beautiful spot, overlooking the valley and the lake as the fluffy clouds reflect in the endless blue of the water. Thomas whistles appreciatively._

_“You were right, it certainly is nice here. A bit lonely though, maybe?”_

_Manu shrugs. He’s never really minded. Except that maybe, he has, and maybe, that’s why he appreciates Thomas’ unexpected presence next to him this much._

_“Sometimes I don’t like running alone,” he admits._

_They’re usually so used to having dozens of people around them when working out, and even if Manu is someone who appreciates his peace and quiet more than most of his teammates, sometimes, he misses it._

_Thomas frowns. “Doesn’t Nina like to come?”_

_Oh. Manu’s stomach clenches. He shuffles around of bit, flinching when he feels a tiny splinter of the wooden bench poking in his butt._

_“She’s not … she’s not here often.”_

_“Hmm.” Thomas stubbornly stares ahead, and somehow, Manu desperately wishes he’d turn to look at him so that he could read him better. He’s beautiful like this, he catches himself thinking, lost in his thoughts, so much more serious than the Thomas they usually see, the Thomas the public knows, but somehow more sincere too._

_Manu pulls at where his shirt sticks to his skin. It’s a bit tight around the chest, he can feel all the work he put in in the gym lately, can feel himself getting even broader._

_He hesitates a bit, and for a second he wonders if he’s really about to do this. But it’s not like there haven’t been other opportunities. When they’re alone in the dressing room after training, or that one time Thomas invited him over for a slightly burned lunch. In the bus after an away game, them sitting side by side._

_Next to Bastian, and maybe Rafinha, Thomas is the one Manu is maybe closest to out of all the Bayern squad. And somehow, he’s the first one he wants to trust with this – but so far, he always chickened out. But now, they’re already talking about Nina; now, no one is around._

_Now is as good as of a moment as there is._

_He clears his throat._

_“Me and Nina. We’re not. Um.”_

_Thomas chuckles. “Sentences, Manuel. You usually have to finish them for people to understand what you mean.”_

_Manu digs his fingers in the wood of the bench, so tightly that it must almost leave marks and fixes his eyes on the ground._

_“I’m – gay.”_

_Out of the corner of his eyes, he can see Thomas’ eyebrows rise up to his hairline, and for a second, he fears for the worst. But then, Thomas’ constant smile grows softer._

_“Well, then.” His voice is tender despite how rough it is, so much sharper and precise than Manu’s usual mumbling._

_“Are you, um,” Manu gulps, a tight feeling clogging up his throat. “Are you okay with that?”_

_Thomas laughs quietly before he reaches over. His hand almost manages to cover Manu’s as he squeezes it. Manuel feels the heat rise to his cheeks. He still doesn’t dare to look up._

_“You’re hardly the first gay friend I have. And well, your constant disinterest in all the attention you receive from female fans might have been a bit of an indication, don’t you think?”_

_Manu can feel his blush spread. He lifts his chin, just a bit, and even though he now knows how supportive Thomas is, he’s a bit taken aback by the look of understanding in his eyes, accompanied by the mischievous gleam they never seem to lose._

_He’s an amazing friend, and despite what people might think, always there to listen to everyone’s worries, to cheer them up, to build you back up when you feel down. His hand still rests on Manu’s, and the goalkeeper can hardly resist to push his fingers between Thomas’ bonier ones. That, even more than his sense of humor or his occasionally incomprehensible football skills, make Thomas who he is, and Manu’s heart skips a beat when Thomas’ removes his hand again but his smile grows even wider._

_His heart skips? Suddenly, the strange feeling in his stomach that he’s been nursing ever since Thomas appeared explodes, and butterflies start to flutter their wings._

_Manu pulls his hand away as if he’s been burned._

_‘Oh shit,’ he thinks, ‘oh shit oh shit oh shit.’_

_Thomas tilts his head, oblivious to the turmoil brewing in Manuel, bigger and bigger until it grows so overwhelming that Manu feels like he can’t breathe, and his smile turns into his trademark shiteating grin._

_“Race you back to the parking lot?”_

_And then he’s off and Manu is left to chase his coat-tails, his chest growing tighter and tighter as the realization still pulsates through his veins._

_He’s in love with Thomas Müller._

 

Thomas chuckles quietly as he places a kiss on Manu’s temple, hand carefully stroking through short, straw-like hair.

“And then you still took two years to inform me of that,” he teases.

Manu huffs. “Maybe you’ve forgotten that minor detail, but you were married. And certainly not interested in random goalkeepers with a wheelbarrow full of issues.”

If Manu’s head didn't lay so heavy on his shoulder, Thomas would probably shrug. “You’re right. I was still in love with Lisa back then, so it probably would have broken more things than it would have solved. But,” he pokes his side, “You certainly aren’t a random run-of-the-mill goalkeeper. Not to me.”

In fact, he’s irreplaceable. Even to Bayern, Thomas thinks, sighing as he remembers the tricky situation they’ve found themselves in, trying to chase Dortmund but hardly delivering any results. Manu might not be the captain Philipp was, and surely the two of them are currently the media’s favourite scapegoats – he doesn’t even dare to think what the fans must think – but Thomas knows better than anyone how important they are to the team. Not too long ago, before this whole mess started Mats called them the team’s mum and dad. “You take care of us, speak for us and take the hits for us. Very noble.” It isn’t really, but to Thomas, it’s the responsibility that comes with vice-captainhood, and he knows that it’s the same to Manuel.

They are a unit, the two of them, and if Manuel were taken from him, Thomas knows he’d leave a hole that no one else would ever be able to fill.

Sometimes, he isn’t sure if their relationship has actually helped or hindered them when it comes to their profession, but as he wraps his arm closer around Manu, Thomas knows it doesn’t matter, because there couldn’t have been any other outcome anyway.

Not when they’ve been drifting closer and closer until they collided, certain to never let go of each other ever again.

Manu sneezes, effectively pulling him out of this train of thought. He sniffs as he fumbles for a tissue, thankfully smiling at Thomas when he fishes one out of his jacket’s many pockets.

“You okay, sweetheart?”

On the other side of the path, Momo emerges from the brushwood, shaggy with a few leaves stuck in her fur, a branched twig clenched between her teeth. Manu sneezes again.

“A bit cold maybe,” he states the obvious. Thomas grins.

“Shouldn’t you be able to stand around in the cold for much longer? After all, it’s part of your job description.”

“Not these days.” At first glance, Manu doesn’t look amused, but the corners of his lips are twitching, and when he gets up, he offers Thomas his hand, pulling him up.

They exchange a smile as they turn their backs on the place where are all of this began, the bench disappearing in the fog just like the lake down in the valley. And like back then, they don’t know where their journey will be taking them.

But this time they know they’ll be taking it together.

 

**Author's Note:**

>   * Title from 'Old Churchyard' by the Wailin Jennys, linked above
>   * I write FICTION about real people. None of this is intended to harm them or their reputation in any way
>   * This is ESPECIALLY true for any sexuality headcanons that are merely fictional and how I imagine these characters based on real people to be
> 

> 
> Please leave kudos and maybe a comment if you liked it! | [tumblr](http://manuelmueller.tumblr.com/)


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